‘Afghan-looking’ Pakistanis taken to holding centres for deportation, says Aurat March

In a series of video documents and reports released by the organization’s Lahore Chapter, a number of Pakistani Pashtuns are seen talking about how they are being taken in to deportation centres because they ‘look Afghan’. Their minor children, and in one case an Afghan’s wife and a two-month-old baby, been taken to holding centres in multiple raids conducted by the police.

Registered and card holders being detained as part of the government's indiscriminate policies.#AfghanRefugeesMatter #AfghanRefugeesInPakistan https://t.co/Z8A8xkKu1O

— ⁧عورت مارچ لاہور⁩ – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) November 4, 2023

The victims, visibly distressed, are complaining about the lack of information and resources as they do not know where the detainees are being taken and why. Some of them are being told that they will be taken to the borders for deportation because they do not hold registration cards and are assumed illegal by the government, even though their guardians hold the required documents.

There are incidents of minor legal document holders being deported too. One such example is 16-year-old Mansour, brother of Yaseen who holds a PoR card but he says the police have confiscated it from him putting him at further risk. The child is being sent on a bus to the border.

Yaseen is visibly scared! His 16 year old brother is still missing, nowhere to be found. His own ID was taken by the SHO of Alfalah Police Station in Malir, and he never gave it back. He's, hence, at a risk of being detained himself.
An absolute mockery of process and humanity! pic.twitter.com/n128V4ZXGz

— Mehrub Awan 🇵🇸 (@TMItalks) November 5, 2023

Aurat March is claiming that there is a large number of poor Pakistani Pashtuns running from one police station to the other, trying to prove with their CNICs and birth certificates of their detained children, that they are legal citizens and not illegal immigrants.

Unfortunately, as confirmed by Aurat March, a video of a man doing rounds on social media where he is being told by the authorities that his son, a 17-year-old has been sent to Afghanistan after being picked up in a raid in Karachi, is true.

We reported this a few hours ago, where this person's (a Pakistani citizen) 17 year old son was picked up. We have just learnt that he has been deported !. Who will be answerable for this? What will the 17 year old do when he arrives at the border?.#AfghanRefugeesInPakistan https://t.co/SOE6xIinUl

— Aurat March – عورت مارچ (@AuratMarchKHI) November 4, 2023

In another video, a man from Waziristan, a Pakistani citizen is showing his child’s birth certificate, which was missing a day ago and has received a call from his son who is now sent to Chaman for deportation. He goes on to prove his citizenship by showing his Watan card and the ID cards of his deceased father and brother too. He alleges that the money and the photocopy of the father’s ID card had been snatched away from the kid by the police.

It's now over a day this Pakistani father is looking for his minor son – he is nowhere to be found.
None of these documents are forged as your racist commentators would like you to believe.
Where is his son?
Has he also been packed in a bus and sent to Afghanistan? https://t.co/uTpk3uHSkj pic.twitter.com/dPWDuOMlR7

— Mehrub Awan 🇵🇸 (@TMItalks) November 5, 2023

Activist Mehrub Awan posted on X a video of a police officer outside the Sultanabad detention centre stating that “The Pakistanis deported accidentally can’t be brought back”.

"The Pakistanis deported "accidentally" can't be brought back"

Is this an effing joke?!?! Wth is happening?@samarfactor @Moni_Kakar are in the video talking to the SHO outside the Sultanabad detention center pic.twitter.com/iSaOzBzqrb

— Mehrub Awan 🇵🇸 (@TMItalks) November 5, 2023

Lawyer Moniza Kakar, while talking to The Current, explains that the number of 1.7 million as stated by the government is a vague one, and the number is not definite since registration of Afghans stopped when the Taliban took over. All those who entered Pakistan after that were given a token which has no legal status. Consequently, they also can’t have access to any legal shelter. Even then, petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court where Lawyers Umer Gilani and Sara Malkani will be representing.
Many, including women and children, are being confused by authorities, allegedly for having an accent or looking similar to Afghans, said Kakar.

The government, however, is silent, raising questions over the transparency of the system and the very rushed way in which the process is being conducted. We have reached out to the interior ministry for a comment but they have not responded.